Chennai based Paramount Airways is set to hire over 1,000 people in phases over the next 15 months, even as big rivals prune staff and fleet size to cope with the effects of the economic downturn.

The personnel to be hired include cabin crew, technicians, pilots and ground staff as part of the airline’s fleet expansion plan.The airline,which now has 800 staff, plans to induct 15 new 80-seater Embraer planes into its fleet by the end of 2010.

The airline current has five Embraers and the new ones will come in under leases that will save on upfront investment.

“We started on a slow pace and are now prepared to scale up rapidly. One aircraft will join the fleet next month and after that we will get one aircraft every month to operate a pan-India network,” said 31year-old M Thiagarajan, managing director, Paramount Airways, who is a pilot bytraining..

“We are in the process of hiring and will employ 60 to 80 people per aircraft,” Thiagarajan told Hindustan Times in an interview.

The staff addition works out to between 900 and 1200 people for 15 aircraft to be inducted in 18 months from now.

The airline recently enhanced its route network to western and eastern India. It is planning to operate multiple flights to north India in the next quarter, Thiagarajan said.

He said the airline is working to set up two more bases outside its main base in Chennai,where aircraft could be parked overnight for providing regional connectivity.

“It could be at Pune, Ahmedabad or Kolkata where we can station five planes each,” Thiagarajan said.